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7
May
2017
Earlier this week, TV host Jimmy Kimmel told his studio audience, multiplied by millions on line, about his infant son’s emergency heart surgery.
Kimmel choked up as he described the events. A normal birth. In fact, an easy birth. Then, three hours later, an alert nurse noted a heart murmur, a purplish skin tone. A newborn infant rushed into surgery to repair a hole in his heart wall and a sticking valve.
Kimmel made the case for universal medical care when he said, “If your baby is going to die and it doesn't have to, it shouldn't matter how much money you make.”
Canadians, watching those TV clips, might have felt complacent. After all, we have a universal “single-payer system” that covers those costs.
Maybe not. Recently, I’ve been hearing about a drug that B.C. and several other provinces refuse to pay for.
Categories: Sharp Edges
Tags: Drugs, Orkambi, health plans, Cystic Fibrosis, CF
27
Nov
2016
Why do we blandly tolerate government foot-dragging on the 700 drug overdose deaths that will happen in B.C. before the end of this year? As of October, the province had 622 deaths. Two more months will push the toll over 700. And not one of those deaths resulted from drugs administered at a safe injection site. Not one.
Tags: Fentanyl, Drugs